Suppressed media erase memory of Andijan massacre

Five years ago today, Dilorom Abdukadirova, 44,
managed to escape the heavy spray of bullets in her native Uzbek city of
Andijan. On that day, government troops shot and killed
hundreds of civilian protesters on the orders of President Islam Karimov. Leaving behind her husband and four children,
Abdukadirova found a refuge in Australia, where she counted the days until she
could again embrace her family.

Fear of a potential arrest inUzbekistanstopped her from boarding a plane toTashkent as rumors about theprosecution of
returned refugeesspread
among the massacre survivors. But a desire to see her loved ones, as well as
reassurances from the Andijan police that they would not arrest her, blinded
Abdukadirova. She flew home in January. She indeed joined her family, but the
joy was brief—ignoring their promises, Uzbek security agents have detained and
interrogated her since the day of her arrival, and on March 12, she did not
return home from Andijan prosecutor’s office.

It is unlikely Abdukadirova will hug her husband or kids
anytime soon. Following her March
12 arrest, Andijan City Court charged Abdukadirova with illegally
crossing the Uzbek border, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order,
and participation in riots, andsentenced
her to 10 years in jail.

Only a few in the country and abroad, mostly rights
activists and massacre victims, know of Abdukadirova’s ordeal. The reason is
simple—Karimov’s regimebooted foreign
broadcastersout of the
country in revenge for their coverage of the massacre, and purgedthe remnants of the local independent press
by jailing and intimidating reporters. Authorities continue to block access to
critical online publications, such as the independent regional news Web siteUznews, which covered Abdukadirova’sarrest at length.

No other case depicts the regime’s hatred toward critical
journalism as that of Dzhamshid Karimov—the Uzbek president’s nephew, who has
beenlocked in a
psychiatric ward in retaliation for his critical reports. AlthoughUzbekistanholdssix other journalists in jail,
unlike them, Karimov did not hear his court verdict, not even behind closed
doors as happened in some cases.

In September 2006, security agents kidnapped the
journalist, who, at the time, freelanced for the London-based Institute for War
and Peace Reporting, from the street in his native city ofJizzakh, and threw him into a psychiatric
hospital in the neighboring Samarkandregion.
Abandoned by his relatives after the death of his ailing mother in 2008, the
journalist remains in custody. His right to a lawyer and to receive visitors
has been denied. In fact, sources told CPJ that the journalist’s relation to
the Uzbek dictator prevents him from receiving legal counsel—disputing the
illegal detention, sanctioned by the president, is a suicidal mission.

These are only two stories that serve as reminder of the
Uzbek regime’s brutality. But there are thousands of other documentedcases of men,
women, and children—victims of the massacre in Andijan and
repression elsewhere in the country—who await their due justice. And calls for
such justice must be made in all the capitals where governments publicly pledge
allegiance to democracy and rule of law, cities where Tashkent seeks to repair relations
with the West, including Washington, Brussels, Geneva, Berlin, Paris, and London. The Andijan massacre must be
remembered.

World leaders have a moral obligation to demand justice
for Dilorom Abdukadirova, Dzhamshid Karimov, and all others who are jailed on
trumped-up charges, tortured, and intimidated by the Uzbek police, or continue
to live in fear of the Uzbek regime.

When commemorating World Press Freedom Day on May 3, U.S.
President Barack Obama included
Uzbekistaninto the list of
countries that jail journalists for their work, which was a small step toward
recognizing the problem. But more needs to be done to free the country’s jailed
journalists. The Uzbek regime has proven to be immune to condemning statements
or symbolic actions, like sanctions imposed by the European Union in 2005,
which did not stop the regime from jailing its critics.

Maybe it’s time to publicly engage Uzbek envoys, likeAmbassador to SpainGulnora Karimova and Ambassador to
UNESCOLola Karimova—both
daughters of the Uzbek president—and demand that they explain the detention of
their cousin? Or perhaps it’s time that Pentagon officials, who have beenfrequent visitors to the
Uzbek capital, voice—on the record—Obama’s concerns with Uzbekistan’s human
rights and press freedom records. After five years, is it not time for justice?

Muzaffar Suleymanov, research associate for CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program, has a master’s degree in international peace studies from the U.N. University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica.